Banged-up Celtics drop fifth straight

Wednesday

Mar 27, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 27, 2013 at 7:02 AM

They are just three weeks away from the end of the NBA regular season, making this an inopportune time to be reeling. With only 12 games to go, though, reeling is exactly what the shorthanded Celtics are doing as the latest dose of injuries has left them in a difficult state.

Jim Fenton

They are just three weeks away from the end of the NBA regular season, making this an inopportune time to be reeling. With only 12 games to go, though, reeling is exactly what the shorthanded Celtics are doing as the latest dose of injuries has left them in a difficult state.

After surviving the losses of Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger for so long, the Celtics find themselves in a bind with Kevin Garnett and Courtney Lee out of the mix as well.

The Celtics, stuck in seventh place in the Eastern Conference at 36-34, have dropped five consecutive games for the first time since Rondo departed the scene in late January and are closer to eighth place than they are to sixth place.

And with the possibility that Garnett may be out two weeks with inflammation around his left ankle, the prospects of a late-season charge up the standings are dim.

Everything is piling up on the Celtics at the wrong time, and the latest negative turn came Tuesday night when they fell to the New York Knicks, 100-85, in the most lopsided TD Garden loss of the season.

The Celtics headed right to the airport after the loss with a game in Cleveland against the Cavaliers tonight, and they will keep searching for a way out of the March funk.

“Injuries are going to be injuries,’’ said Paul Pierce, who had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. “You don’t have control over that. You’ve got to deal with it.

“It’s been like that for us all season long. It just seems it gets worse and worse. But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to go out there, we’ve got a job to do. We’ve got to figure it out.

“This is what it is. We can’t look over our shoulders to look for Kevin to be back tomorrow or Courtney Lee, our regular starters. The guys who are filling their roles have to be ready to step up.’’

The Celtics are being forced to play small ball with no center (Brandon Bass is starting at that spot) and no true point guard (Avery Bradley was paired with Jordan Crawford in the backcourt).

They struggled to keep the Knicks off the offensive boards, getting outscored, 29-6, on second-chance points to a team that was without Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire.

Garnett, injured a week ago tonight, is being held out so he is right for the playoffs, but that could make for a long two weeks.

“I think you’ve been around me long enough,’’ said Coach Doc Rivers. “Kevin’s not playing. I don’t worry about it. I really don’t. I deal with our guys.

“We didn’t play well tonight. I’m not going to go back and say, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got two more weeks of this.’ That’s not how you work in this league.

“Listen, the decision we’re making with Kevin is the right one. But we still want to win games. We’re not going to let one game say we’re not going to win any more games. It’s just silly to me to even think that way. We have to get ready for (tonight) and go from there.’’

Losing both Garnett and Lee strips the Celtics of two defensive keys, and J.R. Smith took advantage by scoring 32 points off the bench.

The Celtics have little in the way of an inside game now that Garnett is out and had three guards on the court for long stretches.

“You can’t really make excuses about it,’’ said Pierce. “This is the group we’ve got out there and this is the group we’ve got to figure it out with.

“We put four smalls on the court. That’s what it is. That means guys have to do a better job rebounding. Roles are expanding. Every year you have guys sit on the bench who want to play more. Well, here’s an opportunity. There are injuries. There’s opportunities.’’

At this point on the schedule, however, it should be about tuning up for the postseason, a luxury the shorthanded Celtics simply don’t have right now.

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